JSONPath parsing returns blank after REST agent upgrade

Products

• Automic SaaS
• CA Automic One Automation
• CA Automic Workload Automation - Automation Engine

Issue/Introduction

After updating from an older RA REST agent (solution 4.6.10 or older) to a higher version of the RA REST solution or the Integration (IG) REST agent (v24.x), JSONPath expressions in the Response tab of JOBS objects may stop working or return blank results. This typically affects jobs that use the older syntax for variable mapping. 

Environment

Job type: REST
Agent version: 4.6.11 or higher (including 24.x)

Cause

With solution version 4.6.10 and earlier, the RA REST agent used older, non-standardized libraries that allowed flexible syntax such as $elementname or simply elementname. In February 2024, the RFC 9535 was published, establishing an official standard for JSONPath. The IG REST agent (v24.x) and RA REST solution 4.6.11+ strictly follows this standard.

• $: Represents the root object or full input.
• $.element: Correct syntax for accessing a specific field from the root. What is the playback engine used for JSON Parsing

Resolution

To resolve this, job objects must be updated to use the standardized syntax. Common required changes include:

• $jobid → $.jobid
• $status → $.status

Note: If an element name literally contains a $ (e.g., "$element_name" in the JSON response), the mass update must be handled carefully to avoid breaking those specific paths.

Identification and Implementation

To identify affected objects in your database, you can query the OCV table for expressions starting with $ but not followed by a dot ($.):

SELECT oh_name, oh_client, ocv_value 
FROM oh, ocv 
WHERE oh_idnr = ocv_oh_idnr 
AND oh_deleteflag = 0 
AND ocv_vname LIKE '%response_part_%code_%' 
AND ocv_value LIKE '$%' 
AND ocv_value NOT LIKE '$.%'

Once identified, the jsonpath response must be updated.